cee-2's big BIG week in Sun Valley

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Hi All-

After years of reading of Jay T's big workouts, I finally feel like I have something to add to this category. Here is a summary of my big week of skiing in the Sun Valley area.

I was lucky enough to get to do two "back-to-back" yurt trips at the Galena Lodge yurts. For those who don't know, yurts are circular tents of Mongolian origin, where the canvas is stretched over a wooden frame. If you've never seen one, Google it. Galena Lodge's yurts are a relatively luxurious variation, with windows, sky lights, futons, and warm wood stoves. And only about 1/4 mile (mostly uphill) from the lodge, which features good food and beverages, a big fireplace with a heated (!) floor in front of it, and an incredibly hospitable staff-- both in the restaurant and the ski shop.

Galena Lodge is also the central feature of the Galena Trail system (about 20-30K of track?) and is at the upper end of the Harriman Trail. The Harriman Trail, 30 K down the Wood River Valley to the Salmon National Recreation Area (SNRA) Headquarters building, is the route for the Boulder Mountain Tour. So, yes, I did get to do some practicing on the race route.

During the entire time I was there, Sun Valley was busy living up to its name, with clear sunny skies all day, and more stars than I had seen in quite some time at night. Despite the sun, the area is quite cold in the winter, and Toko low-fluor blue and Solda S-20 anti static powder were the glide wax du jour, day in and day out (my wax box is not exactly brand loyal any more...). Despite it being almost 2 weeks since the last snow, the cold temps were not re-crystallizing the snow in the tracks, so it was a blue kick wax day every day.

So, with that info, here is what I did last week:

Wed: skated about 5 K, realized that I was tired from travelling the day before, and switched to classic for a 20K ski down the valley to the 2/3 point of the Boulder Mountain Tour. Even though the Harriman trail is net downhill for the 30K of the BMT, the first 10K are actually fairly hilly as you ski into and out of numerous side-canyons that are tributaries to the Wood River. An easy, L1-2 ski, 20K in about 2:15 (lots of stops to gawk at scenery and examine incredibly huge surface hoar crystals growing in the meadows). Finished off the day with a soak in Easley Hot Springs (at about the 15 K point on the BMT route) before heading back to the lodge for cocktails and the yurt for a potluck meal.

Thurs: 30K skate on the BMT course. Started easy, finished harder, but still kept it low key. 2 hrs for 30 K. Dinner cooked by the Galena Lodge staff, and delivered to the door of the yurt.

Fri: 10K (about) skate on the Galena Lodge trails. These can be pretty hilly, and feature some stiff, hilly terrain (a trail called Rip and Tear comes to mind) and a memorable downhill plunge off of a ridge (aptly named Psycho). Finished off with a chilly loop into the refrigerator of Titus Creek, which is deep, dark and north-facing. Again, a lot of stops and socializing. Spent the afternoon in Ketchum- hanging out at the Elephants' Perch (the skinnyski friendly ski shop in downtown Ketchum), buying wine, and getting my registration in for the BMT!

Saturday: Backcountry Tour onto a side-ridge of Gladiator Peak, which overlooks Galena Lodge. Very gentle approach up a gradually ascending forest service road for the first 2 miles (would make a great off-track tour on light-touring gear), followed by a steady climb up an old logging track up to the ridge. No powder skiing as it hadn't snowed for weeks, but a narrow aspect band (you knew when you were pointing north) of settled and recrystallized powder. You knew when you weren't pointing north any more by the shin-breaking crust on every other aspect. Mileage doesn't count, but about a 3 hour tour... Went to see the Telluride Mountain Film Festival in town that evening, then came home to the yurt for an early evening in preparation for...

Sunday: The big day. 60 K by doing the 30K BMT course first backwards (uphill, starting at the finish line, and finishing at Galena Lodge), then after a break for lunch, stretching and dry clothes, another 30K back down to the finish line. This breaks my PR for longest distance skiied in a day (formerly the 52 or 54 K of the Birkie), and felt like a great milestone of achievement in my technique. The BMT (especially in the race direction) is all about V2 and V2-alternate, and I did a lot of it. By messing around, I also found that a V2 alternate "3-skate") seemed to be faster than either the V2-A or the V2. The rhythm was: pole/skate(L)-skate(R)-skate(L)-pole/skate(L)-pole/skate(R)-skate(L)-skate(R). Maybe it translates better in video... After several hours spent recuperating in front of the fireplace in the lodge, we marched ourselves up the hill to the yurt for an indecently huge multicultural potluck feast, featuring chile rellano pie, chicken-portobello ravioli,!
and
turkish chocolate baklava for dessert. Paired with Sun Valley's finest malt and grape beverages... Followed by the sleep of the well exercised.

Monday- one last ski before I go. Went down valley to the Sun Valley Resort Trail System. Definitely a different class of skiing than Galena, but not too darn bad for golf-course skiing. We went above the golf course up into the Trail Creek area, which heads up the canyon above the golf course and resort. Were rewarded with more rolling, open meadow track, featuring the world champion class of surface hoar crystals-- some as much as 4" long. It looked like the plucking ground for a huge number of pure white geese. about 10K of very slow classic skiing, but who's counting at this point?

Total for the week: 6 days of skiing, 5 on track, 1 backcountry. About 135 km of track skiing (30 classic, 105 skate), plus the backcountry day.

And I STILL missed a lot of trails! And never got to the hot springs on the Stanley side of Galena Pass. Oh well, maybe next time!

Chris Cline

SLC, UT





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PHi All-/P
PAfter years of reading of Jay T's big workouts, I finally feel like I have something to add to this category.  Here is a summary of my big week of skiing in the Sun Valley area./P
PI was lucky enough to get to do two "back-to-back" yurt trips at the Galena Lodge yurts.  For those who don't know, yurts are circular tents of Mongolian origin, where the canvas is stretched over a wooden frame.  If you've never seen one, Google it.  Galena Lodge's yurts are a relatively luxurious variation, with windows, sky lights, futons, and warm wood stoves.  And only about 1/4 mile (mostly uphill) from the lodge, which features good food and beverages, a big fireplace with a heated (!) floor in front of it, and an incredibly hospitable staff-- both in the restaurant and the ski shop.  /P
PGalena Lodge is also the central feature of the Galena Trail system (about 20-30K of track?) and is at the upper end of the Harriman Trail.  The Harriman Trail, 30 K down the Wood River Valley to the Salmon National Recreation Area (SNRA) Headquarters building, is the route for the Boulder Mountain Tour.  So, yes, I did get to do some practicing on the race route./P
PDuring the entire time I was there, Sun Valley was busy living up to its name, with clear sunny skies all day, and more stars than I had seen in quite some time at night.  Despite the sun, the area is quite cold in the winter, and Toko low-fluor blue and Solda S-20 anti static powder were the glide wax du jour, day in and day out (my wax box is not exactly brand loyal any more...).  Despite it being almost 2 weeks since the last snow, the cold temps were not re-crystallizing the snow in the tracks, so it was a blue kick wax day every day.  /P
PSo, with that info, here is what I did last week:/P
PWed: skated about 5 K, realized that I was tired from travelling the day before, and switched to classic for a 20K ski down the valley to the 2/3 point of the Boulder Mountain Tour.  Even though the Harriman trail is net downhill for the 30K of the BMT, the first 10K are actually fairly hilly as you ski into and out of numerous side-canyons that are tributaries to the Wood River.  An easy, L1-2 ski, 20K in about 2:15 (lots of stops to gawk at scenery and examine incredibly huge surface hoar crystals growing in the meadows).  Finished off the day with a soak in Easley Hot Springs (at about the 15 K point on the BMT route) before heading back to the lodge for cocktails and the yurt for a potluck meal./P
PThurs: 30K skate on the BMT course.  Started easy, finished harder, but still kept it low key.  2 hrs for 30 K.  Dinner cooked by the Galena Lodge staff, and delivered to the door of the yurt./P
PFri: 10K (about) skate on the Galena Lodge trails.  These can be pretty hilly, and feature some stiff, hilly terrain (a trail called Rip and Tear comes to mind) and a memorable downhill plunge off of a ridge (aptly named Psycho).  Finished off with a chilly loop into the refrigerator of Titus Creek, which is deep, dark and north-facing.  Again, a lot of stops and socializing.  Spent the afternoon in Ketchum- hanging out at the Elephants' Perch (the skinnyski friendly ski shop in downtown Ketchum), buying wine, and getting my registration in for the BMT!/P
PSaturday: Backcountry Tour onto a side-ridge of Gladiator Peak, which overlooks Galena Lodge.  Very gentle approach up a gradually ascending forest service road for the first 2 miles (would make a great off-track tour on light-touring gear), followed by a steady climb up an old logging track up to the ridge.  No powder skiing as it hadn't snowed for weeks, but a narrow aspect band (you knew when you were pointing north) of settled and recrystallized powder.  You knew when you weren't pointing north any more by the shin-breaking crust on every other aspect.  Mileage doesn't count, but about a 3 hour tour... Went to see the Telluride Mountain Film Festival in town that evening, then came home to the yurt for an early evening in preparation for.../P
PSunday:  The big day.  60 K by doing the 30K BMT course first backwards (uphill, starting at the finish line, and finishing at Galena Lodge), then after a break for lunch, stretching and dry clothes, another 30K back down to the finish line.  This breaks my PR for longest distance skiied in a day (formerly the 52 or 54 K of the Birkie), and felt like a great milestone of achievement in my technique.  The BMT (especially in the race direction) is all about V2 and V2-alternate, and I did a lot of it.  By messing around, I also found that a V2 alternate "3-skate") seemed to be faster than either the V2-A or the V2.  The rhythm was: pole/skate(L)-skate(R)-skate(L)-pole/skate(L)-pole/skate(R)-skate(L)-skate(R).  Maybe it translates better in video...  After several hours spent recuperating in front of the fireplace in the lodge, we marched ourselves up the hill to the yurt for an indecently huge multicultural potluck feast, featuring chi!
le
rellano pie, chicken-portobello ravioli, and turkish chocolate baklava for dessert.  Paired with Sun Valley's finest malt and grape beverages...  Followed by the sleep of the well exercised./P
PMonday- one last ski before I go.  Went down valley to the Sun Valley Resort Trail System.  Definitely a different class of skiing than Galena, but not too darn bad for golf-course skiing.  We went above the golf course up into the Trail Creek area, which heads up the canyon above the golf course and resort.  Were rewarded with more rolling, open meadow track, featuring the world champion class of surface hoar crystals-- some as much as 4" long.  It looked like the plucking ground for a huge number of pure white geese.  about 10K of very slow classic skiing, but who's counting at this point?/P
PTotal for the week: 6 days of skiing, 5 on track, 1 backcountry.  About 135 km of track skiing (30 classic, 105 skate), plus the backcountry day./P
PAnd I STILL missed a lot of trails!  And never got to the hot springs on the Stanley side of Galena Pass.  Oh well, maybe next time!/P
PChris Cline/P
PSLC, UT/P
P /P/BLOCKQUOTE/DIVphr SIZE=1
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